Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM2076_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600008347)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of an Iron Age broch, built probably between 500 BC and AD 200. The broch is visible as a grass-covered stony mound externally, but its interior has been cleared out and reused as a sheep pen with an entrance cut through the wall in the north. The interior is 10m in diameter with the inner wall standing up to 1.6m high. The broch is located at the NE end of the freshwater Loch of Huxter on enclosed and improved grazing land. Its coastal location affords extensive views over the West mainland and the North Atlantic. The monument was first scheduled in 1934, but the documentation does not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The area to be scheduled is circular on plan, measuring 50m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. Specifically excluded from the scheduled area are the above-ground remains of the planticrub southeast of the broch, the stone boundary wall north of the broch, and the structural stonework associated with the damming of the Loch of Huxter, to allow for their maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

Despite the later disturbance of the site (with some quarrying of material on the NW side and reuse of the interior as a sheep pen), the broch survives in reasonable condition. The structural footprint appears largely intact and the lower courses of the broch are sealed by later infill. Several architectural features are still visible, including the wall thickness, much of the internal wall face and traces of the outer wall; a mural cell and gallery space in the SE arc; and a low stone outwork in the southern arc. A rich artefact assemblage has been recorded from this site in the past, including querns, 'mallets', knives, pottery and bones. Despite later disturbances of the site, it is highly likely that earlier deposits, contemporary with the construction and original use of the broch, are likely to be preserved beneath the later uses. These and the standing remains have considerable potential to enhance our understanding of the use and function of the broch and the daily lives of the people who lived here. There is high potential for the recovery of further artefacts and ecofacts to help us understand more about the lives, economy and social status of the people and the extent to which this varied over time.

Later structures in the vicinity (a loch-side dam and sluice, field dykes, a nearby planticrub and a high boundary wall) may have incorporated stone quarried from the broch itself.

Contextual characteristics

This broch is one of over 130 known of in Shetland. They are a particularly distinctive type of Iron Age roundhouse structure and are likely to have served a variety of functions. While a domestic and agricultural function has been inferred from the evidence of excavated brochs elsewhere, researchers have also considered the symbolic and strategic significance of these buildings, their outworks and their position in the surrounding landscape. The broch at Loch of Huxter is similar in several respects to the surviving example at Clickhimin. Researchers have drawn parallels between the two based on their positions (both are sited next to a body of water), as well as the architectural similarities.

This example is particularly interesting because of the relative rarity of its mural feature: a gallery space leading in one direction only, with an expanded cell at the end. Researchers have suggested that this broch is neither particularly complex nor long-lived, which suggests it may have high potential to tell us about a specific phase during the several hundred years that brochs were in use, as well as provide further insight into more general issues such as the function(s), longevity and symbolism of brochs.

National Importance

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular of Iron Age Shetland and the role and function of brochs. The survival of structural and artefactual material from the broch's development can help us understand more about the lifestyles of the people occupying these monuments and something of their pattern of activity. Its loss would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand this class of monument and the wider Iron Age landscape of Scotland.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.